Burson, Jackson and Smith also were in court on Thursday but did not enter pleas. Their next court date has not been scheduled.

“I’m not pleading to anything,” Burson shouted out in the courtroom.

Authorities say Burson and Holland traveled to the area to pick up the others, who had crashed a van on Ga. 400 in Forsyth County and eluded officers for several hours.

In addition to the burglary charges, the suspects also were charged with violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

John Wilbanks, assistant district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, said the office agreed not to prosecute Lewis and Lockette for gang affiliation in exchange for their negotiated guilty pleas on the other counts, Wilbanks said.

Authorities say the group likely is connected to the well-publicized designer jeans burglaries of recent years in metro Atlanta.

“We feel this is a well-organized gang of thieves,” Wilbanks said.

Less than a month before the June 10 incident, more than $10,000 in jeans was taken from the same Dawson County outlet.

Within hours, those jeans showed up for sale on the Internet, authorities said. No one has been charged in that case.